How accurate are treadmills?

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TKelly06
TKelly06 Posts: 225 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Probably been discussed before but... How accurate are treadmills with regards to how many calories you are burning? Any feedback would be great, and thank you :)

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  • Chagama
    Chagama Posts: 543 Member
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    If you can enter your weight, they should be pretty close. The energy to move a mass over a specified distance at a specified incline at a particular speed is a pretty simple equation.
  • jlhill7
    jlhill7 Posts: 226 Member
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    Mine is pretty close to my HRM
  • 220lourdes
    220lourdes Posts: 1
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    The calorie and fat burning data is often inaccurate', distance is the most accurate data. So challenge your body.
  • firesoforion
    firesoforion Posts: 1,017 Member
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    I don't have a HRM but my treadmill is pretty close to (a little under) MFP estimations.
  • chidan10
    chidan10 Posts: 2
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    Well it depends how long you've been running.
  • acrego
    acrego Posts: 84 Member
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    There are calculators online that can tell you pretty close to exactly how much, you enter your weight & mph. Just google "calories burned walking" or something like that. I'll go look & post again if I find it.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    I don't use a HRM but MFP, runkeeper and the treadmill estimates have all been close to each other and gave me the results I wanted. Which I why I never bothered with a HRM. :wink:
  • Fit_Canuck
    Fit_Canuck Posts: 788 Member
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    Probably been discussed before but... How accurate are treadmills with regards to how many calories you are burning? Any feedback would be great, and thank you :)

    In my case it's quite off, by at least 150 calories based on my Polar HRM. Treadmill is always too low in calorie burn for me.
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
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    Mine is almost invariably higher then my HRM - for half an hour of brisk walking (start @ 4 mph and finish @ 4.4) it's about 75 cal higher, for a longer session the variance is worse.
  • Moonbeamlissie
    Moonbeamlissie Posts: 504 Member
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    treadmill is pretty close... elliptical is wayyyyyy off by over 200 calories or more depending on how long i do it!
  • momof3and3
    momof3and3 Posts: 656 Member
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    If you enter in your weight and age, it is pretty accurate...if not the weight for the treadmills at my gym is set at 150lbs....

    rough estimate is 100 calories burned per 10 minutes of moderate to intense cardio....another rough estimate is 100 calories burned per mile...that is not walking that is running around a 6mph....

    just a rule of thumb...depends on age, weight, fitness level, incline etc...
  • TKelly06
    TKelly06 Posts: 225 Member
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    Thanks everyone. It's hard for me to put in a calculator because I was using the intervals setting and I added my own incline.
  • Pickles11
    Pickles11 Posts: 310 Member
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    I would say that it is accurate for some people, but way off for others.

    For my husband, it is pretty accurate. He used a HRM a few times and it was pretty close, so he just uses the treadmill now.

    For me, I wear a HRM every workout and I burn at LEAST 50% less than what the treadmill says. At first I was pretty upset to find out I don't burn NEARLY as many calories as many people, but knowing has been essential in my weight loss. Before when I used "guesses" I struggled with weight loss quite a bit.

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